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Where to start? This movie was pretty much the kick-off for summer blockbusters, and I must say, it did not disappoint.

First, of course, is the plot. It’s pretty much about Tony Stark (duh, guys) and his fight against evil (duh, guys). As always, I don’t want to describe it anymore. Here’s the Wikipedia synopsis. I liked the plot! Except…there were lots of bad guys. At times, there were too many to keep track of. There’s obviously one overall villain, but there’s a bunch of accomplices and peeps who fight Tony and everything. It was a bit confusing at times. But the whole Extremis thing is a cool idea. Obviously, the scriptwriters didn’t just get that idea, as it’s based on the comics, but as a plot point, it’s neat. But I am kind of getting tired of the typical “I’m a villain looking to rid the world of weakness!” thing. I mean, it’s perfect when the villain has a tragic backstory or some physical deformity (The Amazing Spider-man, anybody?), but all the same, it isn’t the most original. It’s also commonly seen in superhero movies. Therefore, I’m giving the plot

4/5 jellybeans.

Next are the characters/actors. Robert Downey Jr., as always, delivers a snarky, yet endearing Tony Stark. I especially liked Tony’s character in this installment of the Marvel movies because he’s struggling with PTSD from the whole Avengers excursion. This is sort of a major flaw/weakness, and I can’t help but love weaknesses in characters. It’s awesome. He has panic attacks and everything. The whole nine yards. And I must say, Tony Stark has always been my favorite from the Avengers. Hawkeye and Hulk are quite bland (IMO), Thor at times seems a bit of a caricature, Captain America is too much of a goody-two-shoes, and the Black Widow isn’t given quite enough depth to be fully epic. Tony Stark, however, is funny, flawed, and a complete human being. He, of all the Avengers, is the most realisitic. (Again, this is just my opinion.) Also, Robert Downey Jr. is incredibly handsome.

Gwyneth Paltrow does a good job with the character of Pepper Potts. I’ve always liked Pepper, because while she isn’t going around shooting people up and doing The Big Stuff like that, she’s more than capable at doing other, very necessary, tasks. Like being CEO of Stark Industries. For example. She’s a capable character, and while at times plays the role of damsel-in-distress, does not do so annoyingly. On a side note, I definitely ship Tony/Pepper. They’re perfect with each other. And they’re doubly humorous when they’re bantering.

Ben Kingsley plays the Mandarin. He does quite a commendable job. **SPOILER ALERT** His true character, of course, is that of Trevor Slattery, an actor getting paid to play the Mandarin for show. While Kingsley is certainly menacing while the audience believes the Mandarin is The Villain; once his identity is revealed, he does quite a good job at playing up the humorous aspects. **END OF SPOILER**

Guy Pearce plays Aldrich Killian. Now, if we just put aside the major fact that they STOLE the name Erin and I are using (Never mind that the spell it differently; we spell it Kilian…read more about that escapade here.) (Also, I’m kidding, the Marvel peeps had rights to Aldrich Killian before our idea was even a little seedling.), I liked this dude’s character. I definitely had sympathy for him, considering his little backstory with Tony (I would be ticked off, too, if I were him.). And I appreciated that he didn’t take the typical path to villainy. He stayed behind the scenes rather than being all ostentatious about it. Which is pretty cool. He wasn’t the most compelling villain I’ve seen, though. Part of that stems from the fact that while his backstory made me feel bad for him, it wasn’t AWFUL and TRAGIC. I’m a sucker for tragic villain stories. Always have been. Also, there’s the minor detail that the dude had a total Ken-doll look for the role. You know, like a pretty boy. Eh, not for me. Other than that, though, cool.

Ty Simpkins played Harley, a little dude who becomes sort of like a sidekick to Tony. He was pretty awesome, and funny in that annoying-little-kid way. He isn’t a huge part of the movie, so there isn’t really much to critique the character on…Pretty much, he was cool. Yeah.

I liked the characters. And the actors who played them, obviously. So I’m going to give the characters section

5/5 jellybeans.

The visuals were awesome, as one can expect from a Marvel summer superhero movie. (The summer part doesn’t really matter, but whatever.) Again, the Extremis was cool–albeit kind of creepy at some points. ORANGE EYES. They definitely made that work. Pretty much all of the CGI was done excellently. Also, I want JARVIS. GAHHH. As far as camera-visual stuff, I don’t remember much of it, but it didn’t bother me or anything, so I’m assuming it was cool. So, just for kicks, let’s give visuals

4/5 jellybeans.

From the iTunes samples (I saw this two weeks ago, I don’t remember everything!), the soundtrack was pretty good. I really like the theme (the actual track is called, simply, Iron Man 3, if you’d like to know). It evokes a sort of Avenger-ly feel (remember the triumphant Avengers theme? Yep, like that), only not quite as happy, which fits, because Tony Stark isn’t quite the happiest character, ya know? That’s the only track that really sticks out to me as being cool. It was pretty much a standard superhero action soundtrack. It wasn’t really memorable, like X-Men: First Class or Pirates of the Caribbean. So I’ll give the soundtrack

3.5/5 jellybeans.

I’m also going to introduce a new segment to my movie reviews, in which I display some of the posters from the movie and comment on them/talk about my feels. Because I’m geeky and like that kind of stuff.

The Iron Man 3 posters were certainly not a disappointment. (Click on one to expand it and read my full comments.)

This teaser poster is cool. I like the many Iron Man suits in the background, and the fact that Tony isn’t actually wearing one of them. Cool contrast.

As far as legit posters for the movie, I think I like this one the best. Robert Downey Jr.’s expression certainly shows Tony’s inner turmoil, and his anger and all that stuff. Plus his wrecked house is in the background. That’s cool. And, oh, the suits! I’m really liking the multiple-suits theme going on in the posters.

I would like this one more if Pepper didn’t look so “Oh! Save me! I’m in distress!” And also…dare I say it…RDJ’s hair doesn’t look as epic as it usually does. *hides* Plus, the way the Mandarin pic is edited into the poster rubs me the wrong way, for some reason. But…more suits! YEAH!

Along with a critique of the actual promotional posters, I’ll have a gallery of other posters from the movie as well (without commenting on them). For most movies (including this one), the posters in this category are the individual character posters. Click on one to expand it and enjoy!

The posters for Iron Man 3 were pretty boss. So I’m going to give them…

4/5 jellybeans.

So, all in all, I really, really loved Iron Man 3! It was an enjoyable, entertaining, and, of course, snarky movie and definitely a great installment in the series. Also, it marks the beginning of Phase 2 in Marvel’s plan to dominate the universe. Did you realize they had phases going on in Marvel? That’s just insane. Next up will be Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (they really have a thing for colons, it seems), Guardians of the Galaxy, and to round it all out, Avengers 2! Phase 2 is expected to wrap up in May 2015 (when Avengers 2 is released). Yeah, this is hardcore stuff, I know. But from the looks of Iron Man 3, Phase 2 should turn out to be just as epic as Phase 1 was. Cool.

(Also, before I leave you, we’ve got to talk about the post-credits scene. A Marvel movie is nothing without a post-credits scene; therefore, a review of a Marvel movie is nothing without a mini-review of the post-credits scene. This one was a little bit disappointing, although after the shawarma scene at the end of Avengers, my standards were set impossibly high. It was entertaining enough, but not epic or anything. Also, Ivy, that was not That One Guy. That was the Hulk :))

(Oh, wait! And at the very very very end of the credits it said…”Tony Stark will return.” I think I screamed a little with relief. It was actually kind of funny, because Erin and Amanda–who I saw the movie with–and I were having a debate about whether or not Tony would make a return to the Marvel universe. Needless to say, we were all happy.)

I liked Iron Man 3 a lot, as I said earlier. So…the moment you’ve all been waiting for…I give Iron Man 3, as a whole…

5/5 jellybeans.

That’s right, folks.

And now, for the end quote…Well, geez. There isn’t a perfect quote to describe Iron Man 3, or even one that I have been using for the past couple weeks. So how ’bout this:

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far, away, Mom and I were driving home. We crested the top of our abnormally steep driveway, and were met with the sight of…horses. At least a dozen of them. Grazing in our backyard. Like they owned the place.

Now, this isn’t such a strange occurrence, because our next-door neighbors have a herd of Arabian horses that live in a pasture right by us. We stare at them all day (the horses, not the people). But in our yard? That’s a completely different scenario.

I can tell that you’re shaking your head in disbelief. So, two things:

Please stop shaking your head. You could dislodge your brain.

Lookee here:

IN OUR BACKYARD, Y’ALL.

…This is legit, peeps. The situation was made even more hilarious by the fact that all of the horses were just peacefully grazing. Not stampeding or any of that crap (which is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear, “The horses have gotten loose!” Be honest. Most everybody thinks that instinctively.). I was laughing the entire time I was taking pictures of the cute little horsies. (Side note: aren’t they beautiful? :))

So anyway, this whole scenario was so funny that I absolutely had to share it with y’all. This is certainly country living at its utmost.

As for a moral of the story…uh…how ’bout…Crazy things happen. Embrace the moment. And take pictures of everything. Y’all. How’s that?

Like this:

…I’m not really OCD, guys. I do sometimes have OCD tendencies (my daily life: “NO! THAT’S A TYPO. YOU CAN’T WRITE THAT!” “Hey, those two things are just a teeny bit crooked… *aligns* …That’s better.”), and one of them is making lists. Incessantly. My epic ninja friend Erin invented a bunch of different lists on her blog, all regarding movies, actors, television series, you know, the good stuff. I couldn’t resist making my own.

Without further ado, then, here are my top fives of…everything important.

Top 5 Favorite Animated Movies

Wreck-It Ralph

How to Train Your Dragon

Brave

Tangled

Rise of the Guardians

Top 5 Favorite Superhero Movies

The Avengers

The Amazing Spider-man

The Dark Knight Rises

X-Men: First Class

Thor

Top 5 Favorite Comedies

Alvin and the Chipmunks (it’s cute, okay? And one of the most quotable movies ever. Bonus points. Oh, and it’s funny. Duh, guys.)

Juno

Someone Like You (Also, Hugh Jackman.)

Legally Blonde

You Again

Top 5 Favorite Movies as a Kid

High School Musical (all three of them. I was THE hugest fan. Sometimes I question my sanity as a child.)

Star Wars (You read that right.)

Tweety & Sylvester (the old Looney Tunes videos, ya know? I actually still find them funny…)

You’re Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley’s Ballet Party (This list is almost starting to get embarrassing.)

Disneyland Fun (it was a singalong video that I adored, because one of my childhood dreams was to go to Disneyland. But really, whose wasn’t?!)

(Side note: I had a very eclectic taste in movies as a child. BTW.)

5 Worst Movies EVER

I don’t watch many crappy movies. I can’t name any off the top of my head…

Top 5 Book-to-Movie Adaptations:

The Hunger Games

The Hobbit part 1 (This is the part of the show where I admit I’ve never read the LotR trilogy, and therefore can’t judge the movies based on the books, but I have read The Hobbit, so there.)

Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightley version, mind you.)

The Help (it omitted a lot, of course–the book is HUGE!–but I really liked the movie, so it makes the cut)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

(Another side note: Hopefully, The Great Gatsby will make it onto this list once I see it.)

Top 5 Movies You Were Most Excited to See in Theatres

The Hunger Games

The Avengers

Les Misérables

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Catching Fire (yes, I know it isn’t released until November 22nd, but I’m already so excited for it, I’m not breathing. No lie.)

Top 5 Cutest Animals in Movies

The Chipmunks (from Alvin and the Chipmunks. They’re even cuter when they talk.)